World briefs

Two car bombs exploded at a bus terminal and market in Nigeria’s central city of Jos on Tuesday, killing at least 118 people, wounding dozens and leaving bloodied bodies amid the flaming debris. AP

The Obama administration on Tuesday levelled sanctions against 12 Russians for human rights abuses, including the detention and death of a lawyer the US says sought to expose fraud by Russian officials. NYT

US authorities are seeking more than $US5 billion ($5.4 billion) from BNP Paribas to settle investigations into the lender’s dealings with sanctioned countries, including Sudan and Iran, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bloomberg

Google keeps a large portion of cash outside the US to use as much as $US30 billion ($32.5 billion) for acquisitions, it said. Bloomberg

The Vatican has denied its former No. 2 is under criminal investigation for allegedly misusing €15 million ($22.3 million). But it didn’t rule out the transaction is being looked in a Pope Francis-mandated inquiry into the operations of the Vatican bank. AP

The Obama administration will make public what has been a secret justification for drone strikes against US citizens suspected of being terrorists, an official said. Bloomberg

Former Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi
has claimed the bunga bunga sex parties at his mansion were an invention of his political enemies and denied using a vulgar and sexist term to describe German Chancellor
Angela Merkel
. Telegraph, London

Malaysia’s aviation authority and British company Inmarsat said they would release satellite data used to narrow the search for missing flight MH370 down to the southern Indian Ocean. AFP